marcello said:

Nobody is breaking them on purpose. They break because the files get moved.

but the files are being moved on purpose, aren't they? so can't something be done? what about redirects? or nice little notes that tell the person where the file has been moved to? a coupon for $1 from see's candies? anything seems better than a 404. but perhaps there's something about the problem i don't understand. if that's the case, feel free to ignore me... :+)

Our policy directs users to set links to URLs that will not break.

that's a good policy. people making new links should follow it. i'm just thinking about the links (who knows how many?) that are already out there that nobody is maintaining, or which couldn't be changed even if someone wanted to... -bowerbird